The process to authorise new battalions for the ITBP, guarding the LAC between India and China, is in the last stage and the government is determined to provide transport and logistical support to all security forces, Union Minister Nityanand Rai said on Sunday.
Seven Indo-Tibetan Border Police jawans died and 32 security personnel were injured when the bus in which they were returning from Amarnath Yatra duty fell into a deep gorge in the Pahalgam area of Jammu and Kashmir, a police official said.
Twenty personnel of the India-China LAC guarding Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) force, who displayed bravery during the violent clashes and ongoing military standoff between the two countries in the eastern Ladakh region in May-June 2020, were on Sunday decorated with police gallantry medals.
According to the government sanction, the fresh manpower will be utilised for manning 47 new border posts and a dozen 'staging camps' or troops bases along this frontier.
Since the yatra began, as many as 28 tourists en route to Kedarnath have died due to various reasons.
The bodies of the last four of the trapped labourers were pulled out from the site of the avalanche-hit Border Roads Organisation (BRO) camp in Chamoli on Sunday, taking the death toll to eight as authorities ended the nearly 60-hour rescue operation.
Twenty personnel of the India-China LAC guarding Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) force have been awarded gallantry medals for displaying bravery during standoff and clashes between militaries of the two countries in the eastern Ladakh region last year.
The move, which was approved by the Union home ministry, comes amid a military standoff with China in the eastern Ladakh area.
The university is also in the process to impart similar training to personnel of Indo-Tibetan Border Police and Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh police, a varsity official said on Monday.
While Prakriti's father has retired from the Indian Air Force, Deeksha's father Kamlesh Kumar is an Inspector in the ITBP.
Multiple teams of the force, with personnel wearing protective gear and helmets, were rushed to the Tapovan power project site from their 1st battalion base in Joshimath and the ITBP mountaineering and skiing institute located nearby in Auli to launch search and rescue works.
When the internal security situation spirals out of the control of the provincial law and order machinery, the CAPFs can be called in, providing a security buffer before the Army is deployed.
There were three people on board the helicopter apart from the pilot. They are all safe and waiting for the weather to clear up to return to Munsiyari, the DM said.
The CBI has booked an ITBP commandant and his two subordinates for alleged corruption in purchase of heating oil and other items for an outpost at Indo-China LAC in Uttarakhand, officials said Tuesday.
The incident took place around 3:30 pm at the Devika Ghat community centre in the district.
Twenty Indian Army personnel including a colonel were killed in a clash with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh on the night of June 15 in the biggest military confrontation between the two countries in over five decades.
The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), which guards the Line of Actual Control with China, has posted its first officer to head the newly-created Guwahati-based eastern command that oversees deployment of border battalions in that region.
'Belgian Malinois' dogs have been extensively used by central security forces and police units in anti-Naxal operations and counter-terrorist tasks.
India and China have held their first diplomatic talks since withdrawing troops from two face-off points in eastern Ladakh, reflecting on the lessons learned from the border row to prevent future incidents. The two sides agreed to maintain peace and tranquillity in border areas, prepare for the next meeting of Special Representatives on the boundary question, and highlighted the importance of regular exchanges and contacts at diplomatic and military levels. The talks come after the completion of the disengagement process from the last two friction points, following an agreement finalized in October 2022.
The DG of the ITBP said his troops have been provided with special winter clothing and nutritious food as they brave the severe chill in eastern Ladakh where the armies of India and China are locked in a tense standoff for over six months. He said 'strains in bilateral relations are already evident but we are confident these will be sorted out peacefully very shortly'.
'The government has made good arrangements to tackle this situation.' 'At the ITBP camp, doctors have arrived from different hospitals from every state of India.' 'They have training on how to deal with suspected coronavirus cases.' ''So I am sure India will handle the coronavirus situation well.'
In a suspected case of food poisoning, 26 personnel of the Indo Tibetan Border Police fell ill with after consuming meal at their camp in Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon district, officials said on Friday.
In its first official account of the standoff between the two militaries, the ITBP revealed how its troops "not only effectively used shield to protect themselves but also responded fiercely to advancing PLA (Chinese People's Liberation Army) troops and brought the situation under control". "The ITBP has recommended the names of 21 men who faced the Chinese during the face-offs and skirmishes in May-June this year for gallantry," it said.
Indo-Tibetan Border Police director general S S Deswal said that the force is putting together the manpower for the facility that was first operationalised in June-July last year when COVID-19 cases in Delhi were witnessing a steep rise.
The troops carried the Indian flag at various strategic locations along the border.
Video footage showed 'Himveers' dressed in white uniforms and chanting slogans of -- Bharat Mata ki Jai and Vande Mataram as the tricolour flies high. Two of the soldiers were seen holding the tricolour as they marched in the snow.
Sources in the security establishment said the force is also set to get sanctions from the Union Home ministry to raise at least nine fresh battalions soon. They said in order to bolster troop numbers along the 3,488 km long Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, as many as 60 companies have been ordered to move towards the front in various areas like Ladakh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
The border guarding force is also moving its mechanised column assets like SUVs, all-terrain vehicles, snow scooters and trucks to forward locations in the midst of the projected increase in the number of troops at border units and fresh directives to undertake 'additional' patrols.
The paramilitary force on Tuesday night had issued a statement and said that "almost all patients are in need of uninterrupted oxygen."
The ITBP guards the 3,488 km long Line of Actual Control between India and China, along with the Indian Army.
An Air India flight was sent to Wuhan on Friday to bring back the Indian students stuck in Hubei province, the epicentre of coronavirus.
An ITBP constable, identified as Masudul Rahman, opened fire from his service weapon, killing four troopers at the spot and injuring three other jawans, after some unknown dispute among them.
Having the ITBP and the Army at the same operational location will resolve these issues as well, the sources said.
While seven-year-old Thunderbolt is part of the Animal Transport unit of the force, 'lifeline' of the force at high-altitude forward posts, three-year-old Sophia undertakes special sniffing operations to detect IEDs with her handler in Left Wing extremism hit areas of Chhattisgarh.
The first vote of the country was cast by Deputy Inspector General Sudhakar Natarajan, head of ATS ITBP.
Security forces have apprehended more than a dozen Naxals after a gun-battle which left an Indo-Tibetan Border Police jawan dead in Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon district. The Naxals, including two of their top operatives, have been apprehended from Pattamwadvi jungle of the district after a five-day-long joint operation by the ITBP and state police which ended on Thursday. ITBP constable Bhoop Singh, who sustained bullet wounds in the attack, succumbed to his injuries later.
Workhorse 'Thunderbolt' and female dog 'Sophia' will be awarded the special medals.
There are 176 border posts along the India-China border at present.
As part of a new rotation policy of paramilitary forces' squads at the Republic Day parade, the contingents of two other forces -- the Central Reserve Police Force and Central Industrial Security Force -- have been taken out of the event this time, officials said.